[ANSTHRLD] Court Report Form

Sun Dec 9 14:51:56 PST 2012

My iPhone (4S with latest IOS) cannot handle fillable pdf.  The fields are 
displayed as blank.

I recognize the cool geek factor of having online forms.  There are some 
engineering problems to be solved first.

One: Maintaining three code versions to do a mobile app is exceptionally 
difficult.  There is now IOS, Android, and Windows Mobile operating systems. 
Each API is unique enough to not have a lot of overlap, and each business 
model for the application stores can become cost prohibitive for little 
effective gain.

Two: How much more technology should be overtly visible in our game?  This 
is a social problem that no nifty keen technology can solve as a silver 
bullet.

Three: Not everyone is particularly tech savvy - including Crowns.  It is 
not our place to tell the Crown to sign our phone court report, if that is 
not their preference or inclination.

Four: An online system involves a fair bit of coding to allow for 
autocomplete names, validated entry, and security sufficient to prevent SQL 
injection.  All of which requires the right people to have enough free time.

Right now, the searchable forms have this, but it does not cause a 
modification of the underlying database.  Then, the email chain becomes a 
social engineering problem.  The recording herald would need to get the 
proper email address of the attending noble.  Sometimes this is a simple as 
crown at ansteorra.org, or baron at elfsea.ansteorra.org.  But, when the attending 
noble is a local Court Baron/ess, then this becomes far more problematic. 
And, again, item three kicks in for those Crowns and nobles that are not 
necessarily tech savvy.

This is the item that stalled my early ideas of an online form for court 
reports.

Five: Any code solution will require some continual degree of maintenance. 
And this means having someone knowledgeable enough in the language chosen, 
and sufficient free time.

As a software engineer, a lot of these problems can be solved - but the 
social problems are far and away the most difficult.

There is an elegant simplicity to using pen and paper, at an event.  It also 
allows the Crown, and many do, to review the court report before signing.  I 
am sure many recall Bobo the Dancing Bear, CSS.  A lot of Crowns do as well, 
and they take a dim view of trying to slip "invalid" items into the court 
report.

Alejandro
Zodiacus

Bill Perkins
Staff Software Engineer

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ron Blackman
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2012 3:23 PM
To: Heralds List, Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc.
Subject: Re: [ANSTHRLD] Court Report Form

I probably can with the Samsung Note. Not sure about other phones.

Eirik

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note™, an AT&T LTE smartphoneJennifer Smith 
<jds at randomgang.com> wrote:I wonder about using something like SignNow, or a 
similar third-party
app, that lets you open a PDF and slap a digital signature on it.
Could you fill out a PDF via IOS or Android, and attach it to an email
to Zodiacus, then walk up to the shiny hats after court and have them
sign it and hit the 'send' button?

(I don't -- yet -- have an android device (nor IOS) to play with, thus
the question...)

-Emma

On Sun, Dec 9, 2012 at 10:52 AM, Bill Perkins
<bill.perkins at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> That would be $100 a year to register with Apple. And a one time $25 fee 
> for Android. I know the software would be easy to write.
>
> There are also logistic issues with the various emails going hither and 
> yon to have a validated report. After some thought I feel that the paper 
> form, scanned and emailed, is easier than all electronic forms.
>
> Alejandro
>
> On Dec 9, 2012, at 6:29 AM, John Atkinson <johnmatkinson at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> So, you know what would be awesome?
>>
>> If someone could write an app for the court report. . .
>>
>> Ioannes
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 11:27 AM, Bill Perkins
>> <bill.perkins at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>> The pages being duplicates is intentional. For larger events, two blanks 
>>> are typically needed. So, per a friendly request from Master Daniel, I 
>>> made it provide two pages with one printing.
>>>
>>> I hope everyone finds the new form a little easier to use. I am still 
>>> investigating making it a fillable form.
>>>
>>> Alejandro
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Dec 7, 2012, at 8:59 AM, "Sweet, Debby" <deborah.s.sweet at okstate.edu> 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Be aware that the form consists of two pages.
>>>>
>>>> While two pages printed out for me, they are duplicates of each other. 
>>>> What's up with that?
>>>>
>>>>> Additionally, there is a check box when the award was announced but 
>>>>> the recipient was not present.
>>>>
>>>> Oh, I really like that!
>>>>
>>>> Estrill
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
>> and again.  We're looking for thousands of Persians."
>> --Vita Aureliani
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